Globalization and its impact on the Slovak consumer

Abstract

Research background: Globalization and the processes associated with it are reflected in the constant changes taking place in the market and affect its individual participants, among whom we also include consumers. Globalization allows consumers to choose, but on the other hand, the quality of products intended for the Slovak market is debatable (dual quality of food). Therefore, many consumers distrust imported products and believe that foreign producers use unethical practices in the Slovak market. Purpose of the article: The paper presents the results of a survey of unethical practices towards Slovak consumers in their selected forms, as well as the results of the current state of awareness of Slovak consumers in the field of protection of their consumer rights. Methods: The data were obtained by a questionnaire and consequently evaluated by the chosen statistical methods. Some questions were formulated to test hypothesis of dependence among selected variables. Findings & Value added: The results point to the low state of Slovak consumer’s ability to detect unethical practices in its specific forms, as well as to the low state of his knowledge in the field of consumer rights protection. However, the finding that with higher consumer education the ability of a consumer to detect misleading practices increases confirmed the importance of incorporating selected areas of consumer policy into education at lower levels. It allows supporting the sovereignty of the Slovak consumer to protect his rights.

Mapping the Supply of Colour Tones of Wood and Furniture Products in Slovakian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

“…The survey was carried out in the Slovak business environment of woodworking and furniture enterprises (WFEs) from September 2020 until the end of the year. The authors [5,9,26] addressed similar issues in their research; the questionnaire is based on this previous research-best practices. The questionnaire was structured into two main parts:…”

“…The wood-processing industry has been fundamentally affected in recent years by globalization and the opportunities for world trade, which also brings strong competition. These facts underline the importance of a constant percep-tion of changes in a market environment, where all companies have to react immediately and adapt their supply to current trends and strengthen their competitiveness [5,9].…”